Livien Yin*
LOT 23
Thelma, 2025
Oil on wood panel
36 x 24 x 2.5 inches
Courtesy the artist and Micki Meng
Suggested retail value: $10,000
Starting bid: $7,000
About the Artwork
Livien Yin* (Headlands Graduate Fellow ‘19–’20) is a visual artist working in painting and sculpture. In their current work, Yin researches the history of Chinese migration to paint speculative portraits of early immigrants during the years of the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882-1943). Their ongoing Paper Suns series is inspired by the Chinese-born “paper sons and daughters” who became U.S. citizens by obtaining forged documents that stated they were children of already citizenized Chinese Americans; the fictionalized portraits reimagine what “paper” identities could have looked like. By repurposing imagery from Exclusion-era paintings and photographs, Yin visualizes scenes of Chinese immigrants where desire, pleasure, and new camaraderie set the tone. Yin’s recent solo exhibitions include Ka-la-fo-ne-a, Friends Indeed, San Francisco, and Paper Suns, The New Gallery, Calgary. Notable group exhibitions include Expanding the Collections, New York Historical Society; The Descendants, curated by Melanie Lum, Micki Meng, and Kevin Poon at K11 MUSEA, Hong Kong; Wonder Women, curated by Kathy Huang, Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles; and Experiments in the Field: Creative Collaboration in the Age of Ecological Concern, Berkeley Art Center. Yin’s work is in the permanent collections of the Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University; New York Historical Society; Inimá de Paula Museum, Brazil; and ICA Miami. They had their first museum solo exhibition in 2024-25 at the Cantor Arts Center.
HOW TO BID:
Bidding is available from May 18-June 5.
1) Text 'READY TO BID' or call 628-237-8195.
OR
2) Visit Headlands' Auction Exhibition to see the artwork and bid via pen & paper.